


Trapped

by AppleQueen_7140



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Hurt Pidge | Katie Holt, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-20 01:53:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20219836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleQueen_7140/pseuds/AppleQueen_7140
Summary: When working on a mission to retrieve information from a Galra ship, an unexpected issue occurs.





	Trapped

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoy this story! I adore the dynamic between Pidge and Lance, so I wanted my first Voltron story to be about the two of them. This is platonic but could be read as romantic if you want it to be. 
> 
> I do not own Voltron or any of its characters.

Lance was very aware of the fact that he had a perfect view of Pidge’s rear end (a very cute read end, if he did say so himself) and while every part of his body was screaming at him to take advantage of the opportunity before him to have a little look without being snapped at, his mind was telling him “no”. So far, his mind was winning the silent argument. He couldn’t do that to Pidge, no matter how cute her bottom looked as it wiggled when she shifted her body in the vent. 

The two of them had been sent on a mission to retrieve information from a passing Galra ship. So far, it had been a piece of cake. Green’s cloaking ability had made their entry onto the ship unnoticeable, and Pidge had a map of exactly what route they needed to take as well as what soldiers would be positioned nearby. 

One of the openings to the Galra supercomputer was inside a small vent on the third floor of the ship. Luckily, Pidge was a tiny human, and squeezing through the vent to retrieve the information was a piece of cake for her. And that was where Lance was facing his most recent dilemma (whether or not to gaze upon her adorable, round, bottom) as he was supposed to be keeping a lookout. 

It took him a moment to realize that Pidge had been speaking to him through their comms. 

“Lance!” She hissed. 

“Yeah. Yeah!” He said, blinking as he was brought back into focus. He could practically hear Pidge rolling her eyes at him. 

“When you’re done staring at my ass, would you mind telling me if the coast is clear? I’m done.”

Lance nodded and quickly ran up and down the hallway to do as she asked. Even though there was no hiding her partially exposed body from any approaching Galra, it would still be good for her to know if they were coming. Pidge liked to be given a heads up on this sort of thing. 

“You’re good.”

“Thank Jesus,” Pidge sighed in relief as she started to shimmy her way out of the vent. Almost as soon as she began though, she stopped. 

“Pidge?” He asked, frowning. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m stuck,” she said through gritted teeth. 

“What?”

“I’m stuck.”

“What do you mean you’re stuck?”

“I mean I’m stuck!” She yelled as loudly as she dared without alerting any Galra to their presence, which was still loud enough to make Lance’s ears ring. 

“How did you manage to do that?” He asked. “You’ve never gotten stuck before.”

“First time for everything, I guess,” she said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “I think it’s cause I’ve grown.”

Lance laughed at that. 

“Stop kidding yourself, Pidge! The most you’ve grown this whole time has been a quarter of an inch. You’re just as short as ever!” 

“I don’t mean that I’ve grown taller,” she snapped, and Lance could picture her red face glaring at him. “I mean,” she hesitated for a moment. “Well...um...I’ve been getting older...you see...and um...well...I’m a girl...so...”

“What are you getting at, Pidgeon?” Lance asked, thoroughly confused. 

“I mean that I’ve grown hips, Lance!” She whisper-yelled again. “I’ve grown stupid hips and now I’m stuck in this stupid vent!” 

Well, with that said, there was nothing Lance could do to stop himself from looking down at her. His face reddened as he watched her lower body wiggle and squirm, trying to unstick itself from its captivity. It all made sense now, though. In the past, whenever they needed Pidge to squeeze into small spaces, she always pulled her entire body in with her. This explained why she left her butt hanging out. It wasn’t as a favor to Lance, but because she couldn’t fit it in the vent. 

Lance was starting to panic. The second a Galra sentry or soldier found them like this, they were toast. He looked around for something, anything, that could help them. He thought of pulling her out, but that would put his hands dangerously close to Pidge’s rear, and he didn’t think that she would appreciate him accidentally fondling her. 

Luckily, Pidge consistently had a level head, even in dangerous situations, and was able to put her genius mind to use. 

“I have a little laser pen on Green. It’s pretty silent and very strong, so we can probably use it to cut a hole around me that I can crawl out of without being heard.”

“Ok! Ok, no problem!” He said, standing up. “I’ll be right back! Where is it?”

“It’s in the compartment right behind my seat...I think.”

“You think?”

“I don’t keep track of every single item in my lion, Lance! It should be around there, though.” 

“Alright,” Lance nodded, adjusting his grip on his bayard. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”

“Ha. Ha.”

Lance couldn’t help but grin at her dry tone. Everything was going to be fine. They were on a secluded part of the ship that Pidge swore was rarely used, Pidge had a plan, and said plan was a simple one. There was nothing to worry about. He couldn’t wait to tease her mercilessly about this once he got her freed. 

———————————————————

Finding the pen was easier than he could have hoped. Green had thankfully let him in without any issues, which had previously been his biggest worry. The pen wasn’t where she had claimed it was, but it was sitting right on top of her controls, so Lance was in her lion all of two seconds. He made sure to keep talking to Pidge the whole time, no matter how much he annoyed her. He could imagine that her position wasn’t the most comfortable one, and he wanted to make her feel as calm as possible. 

So far, it was working. Pidge hadn’t shown any signs of a possible panic attack. She just groaned at his jokes or insulted him. The usual Pidge stuff. 

She was in the middle of explaining to him why putting roller skates and a jetpack on Kaltenecker and riding her around the castle would be a horrible idea, when her voice suddenly cut off. 

“Pidge?” Lance said, tapping on his helmet to make sure the comm didn’t disconnect. “You there? Pidge?”

“Lance,” her voice was barely more than a whisper. “There’s someone here.” Lance stopped cold, tightening his hold on his bayard. 

“A Galra someone or...?”

“I...I think so,” she continued in a voice so low that he had to strain to hear her. “He’s saying something, but I can’t hear what it is. He’s...” she stopped talking in the same abrupt way that she did moments before. 

“What’s going on, Pidge?” Lance asked, his voice hard. He started jogging back to where she was, going as fast as he dared while still making sure to be careful to look out for any guards. If that was a Galra, though, then he was already too late to help Pidge, he realized with a sinking feeling in his chest. 

“Lance!” Her voice came again, and he breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t dead, or at least, not yet. “He’s...he’s...touching me, Lance.” Her voice was shaking and trembling, and Lance’s stomach dropped. 

No, no, no, no. 

“Hold on, Pidge”, he said, picking up speed, no longer caring to check for Galra soldiers. “I’m coming.”

Pidge suddenly sucked in a sharp intake of breath. “Oh, God. Oh God, Lance, he’s taking off my armor! Oh, God!” 

Lance saw red. He was in a dead sprint before he was aware of it, running faster than he ever had before. To get to her. 

To Pidge. 

The distance between them seemed much longer now than it did before. How has he not reached her yet? He turned a corner and finally saw her. He had no time to celebrate, however, due to the huge, chuckling Galra soldier pulling at the pants of her black undersuit. 

The soldier was dead before he even noticed Lance’s presence. His large body slumped to the floor, smoke issuing from the hole the blue paladin blasted in his head. Lance kicked his body away and pulled out the laser pen. As he aimed it at the wall where he would be cutting, he noticed that his hands were shaking. He took a couple of deep breaths until his hands steadied before beginning. 

It only took a couple of minutes, but to Lance, it felt like an eternity before Pidge was able to squeeze her way out of the hole he had made for her. The second she was out, he threw down the pen and his bayard knelt in front of her, and pulled her into his arms. She melted into his embrace, nuzzling her head into his chest and wrapping her arms around his torso. 

“Shh. Shhh. It’s ok. It’s ok,” he breathed, rubbing her trembling back and her helmeted head. He wished that she wasn’t wearing her helmet so that he could run his fingers through her hair. He always found it comforting when his mother did that to him to calm him down. 

He looked down at the girl in his arms. The Galra soldier had removed every piece of her armor from the waist down, even her shoes. Her tiny bare feet were curled up, shaking as hard as the rest of her body was. Lance had never thought of Pidge as being weak or defenseless. She was the smartest person he had ever met, seemed to be able to make anything involving technology to bend to her will, and was pretty incredible with her bayard. Looking at her now, though, he was struck with just how small she truly was. She was just a kid. Well, they were all kids, except for Shiro, but she was really a kid. The thought of anyone hurting her or doing what that Galra soldier almost did to her made Lance’s blood boil. 

“Lance,” she said, lifting her head to look at him. He noticed that tear tracks running down her face, but was relieved to see that she was no longer crying. “I’m...I’m ok. Thank you.”

Lance grinned and squeezed her in another hug. “No problem, Pidgeon. Someone had to save your cute little butt.”

She groaned into his chest, but he laughed, happy to see that she wasn’t completely traumatized by the experience. Once she was ready, he carefully stood up and helped her to her own feet. Without speaking, they quickly gathered up her pieces of armor that the soldier had thrown around the hallway. Lance wanted her to put the armor back on, but she insisted on going straight back to Green. It was a miracle that they hadn’t been caught by other Galra already, and she didn’t want to take any more chances. He reluctantly agreed, and they carefully made their way back to Green. 

Once they made it inside the lion, Lance let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He sat down behind Pidge’s seat with his head in his hands while the younger girl set about getting them out of there. Once they were on their way back to the castle, Pidge turned on Green’s autopilot and moved to sit beside Lance. He scooted over to make room for her but didn’t need to move much, given how small she was. 

He wrapped his arm around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder. He noticed that she had removed her helmet, and he took the opportunity to run his fingers through her short hair. She sighed contentedly, and they sat in silence for a while. 

“You sure you’re ok?” He asked after a bit, breaking the silence. 

It took a second or two for her to answer, “yeah.” 

He looked down at her with raised eyebrows. 

“I am!” She insisted. “You saved me, Lance.”

He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. 

“But what if I didn’t? What if I wasn’t able to get to you in time? You would be…” He trailed off. Pidge didn’t say anything. 

“Don’t beat yourself up about this, Lance,” she finally said after more silence. “There’s no one to blame besides my stupid hips.” She scrunched her face into an expression of complete disgust. Lance chuckled. 

“Maybe you should lay off of Hunk’s cookies for a while,” he poked her armor-covered belly. “Fatty.” 

She groaned and swiped his hand away. They laughed and joked with each other the rest of the way back to the castle. Everything seemed perfectly fine. 

Lance should have known that it wouldn’t be that simple. 

———————————————————

The first few days after their mission were normal, for the most part. Hunk’s cooking was still excellent. Allura was still beautiful. Shiro stayed the same, supportive leader as always. Coran continued to be an oddity to all. Keith was still as annoyed as ever with every single thing Lance did or said. 

The only different thing was Pidge. At first glance, she seemed to be just as unchanged as the rest of them. Lance could tell though, that she was hiding something. She never told the rest of the team exactly what that Galra did to her (or, to be more exact, what he almost did to her) and Lance didn’t either. It was her business, and if she didn’t want to tell them, then neither would he. 

He was worried about her, though. She may laugh along with the others, but he could tell that her smiles were forced, and she spent most of her time apart from the rest of them. When she was with them, she didn’t talk much, only speaking when being spoken to, as if she were being pulled back into reality from deep in her thoughts each time. He noticed that she wasn’t sleeping much either, always working on something in her lab all night long. 

Was she sleeping at all?

Despite his worries, he still gave her space. She just needed some time. She’d be back to normal in no time. 

When Pidge stopped showing up for meals completely, Lance finally put his foot down and went to confront her. She was easy to find, in her lab, as expected. She was hunched over some piece of technology that Lance didn’t even bother to try to name. He watched her for a bit before announcing his arrival. She was facing away from him, so he didn’t have the best view of her, but from what he could see, she was working a lot slower than she normally did. Her movements were jerky and had more weight to them. She also seemed skinnier than she did before. 

He cleared his throat. Pidge jumped about three feet in the air before turning to look at him with wide eyes. Those eyes had the hugest bags under them that he had ever seen. Lance closed his eyes. 

How had he not noticed how badly she was doing? What kind of friend was he to assume she would be ok? 

“What’s up?” He said trying to act normally. Looking concerned about her would do more harm than good. 

Pidge already seemed wary of his motives. She was giving him the side-eye with raised eyebrows. He plopped down beside her, trying to look as if nothing was bothering him. She still didn’t seem to believe that he was just coming over to have a chat, but didn’t press it. She quickly, but efficiently, explained the new project she was working on (something about particle generators or whatnot. Lance didn’t listen) before returning to complete silence. 

Lance tapped on her workbench, looking around the room. He wasn’t sure of how to proceed, and so far wasn’t able to come up with anything. 

“Will you stop that?” Pidge huffed, giving him a vicious glare. 

“Stop what?”

“That tapping! It’s driving me absolutely up the wall!” She put her head in her hands and groaned. “I can’t even hear myself think!” Her shoulders were shaking, and her hands were gripping her hair so tightly Lance was afraid she’d pull it out. 

“Maybe you should go to bed?” He suggested, hesitantly putting a hand on her back. 

“Can’t,” she said, resting her chin on her hands, her elbows balancing on her knees. “Gotta finish this. It’s very…”

“Come on Pidge, that thing can wait,” Lance urged. “You’re not acting like yourself. You need food, sleep, and honestly, one heck of a shower cause girl, you stink!” He pinched his nose and made a face at her, but Pidge didn’t laugh. She stared straight ahead with glazed eyes. He wasn’t sure she had even heard him. Maybe she had fallen asleep to him talking. 

Wouldn’t be the first time a girl had done that. 

“I was trapped,” she whispered almost inaudibly. “That’s never happened before. Whenever I got into trouble in the past, I was able to figure a way out on my own. But this time…” she trailed off, trying to find the right words. “I was helpless. I couldn’t save myself. I had to rely on you, and I don’t like doing that.”

“Gee thanks.”

“It’s not cause a don’t trust you! We’re a team, Lance. We’re Voltron. I’d trust you with my life. Doesn’t mean I want to, though.”

Lance nodded. “You don’t like giving up control.”

She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. Lance was just happy that she was no longer holding the strands in a death grip. He didn’t want to see a bald Pidge. “Yeah, I...I guess. I’m just...I’m just so much smaller than everyone else, and I’ve never wanted to feel like the weak link.”

She turned to look him in the eyes. “I see you guys watching me whenever we go on missions. It’s like you don’t trust me to take care of myself.” She turned her head away. “I’m just afraid that you all see me as nothing more than a helpless child, and I hate that that mission,” she shuddered. “Proved that I am.” 

“We don’t see you as helpless, Pidge. Honest!” Lance said. “We don’t mean to make you feel that way, but as our resident tech genius, you often leave yourself unprotected as you work. It’s our job to cover you so you can focus entirely on missions.”

Pidge didn’t say anything, so Lance continued. “I felt trapped too, you know?”

Pidge frowned and turned her head slightly to face him. 

“When you said a Galra was there,” He shuddered. “I thought my heart was gonna stop. I was too far away. There was nothing I could do. I thought you were gonna die.” He put his head in his hands. 

“We’re a team, Pidgey. You were in danger, and I couldn’t be there to help you. And then he...that bastard he… he almost…” 

Pidge threw her arms around him. She was trembling, and it took Lance a moment or two to realize that was as well. He buried his face into her shoulder and held her tightly against him. 

“We’re a team,” he said, voice muffled by her shoulder. “We’re each gonna mess up, but that’s why we have to rely on one another.” 

He could feel Pidge nodding her head against his own. They stayed like that for what seemed like forever. Lance was starting to wonder if she would ever let him go when he noticed that her grip had slightly loosened and her breathing had evened out. 

Pidge had finally fallen asleep. 

Lance smiled as he untangled himself from her grasp. He lifted her in his arms and headed to her room. She curled up against him, and when he looked down at her, he saw that she was smiling. 

Everything was going to be ok.


End file.
